


Of Stakes and Lilies

by hernameinthesky



Category: Vampire Academy Series - Richelle Mead
Genre: Drabble Collection, Multi, Post-Canon, Various AUs, but also some canon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-16
Updated: 2020-10-20
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:01:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 767
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27045406
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hernameinthesky/pseuds/hernameinthesky
Summary: Vampire Academy and Bloodlines drabbles. Tags added as we go.Ch.1- Demon Hunters AUCh.2- A council meeting post-LS
Kudos: 3





	1. AU: Demon Hunters

**Author's Note:**

> Demon hunters AU is a prompt from my Trope Bingo card. Warning for implied self-harm.

Rose ought to have picked someone smaller. Demons are all fucking strong, but she’d have stood a better chance with one that didn’t tower over her like some kind of red-eyed giant. If Lissa had been there she’d have insisted on calling in backup. But that’s the problem - Lissa wasn’t there. And so Rose went after the first demon she saw and now she’s pressed up against an alley wall with his hand at her throat. His eyes are coldly triumphant as he twists her arm until she cries out in pain and drops her stake. He doesn’t expect her to have a spare. She waits until he relaxes a fraction then lashes out, catching his shoulder and tearing through his shirt to skin. He snarls as his skin sizzles, but she’s already ducked around him.

She hesitates, skittering towards the main road, her car, witnesses, but- Lissa’s choked sobs, blood running in a river down her arm. She lunges at his back. He’s so fast, he’s already turned and she only just twists away in time.

“You’re amazing. I haven’t had this good a fight in years,” he pants, grinning. He speaks with a faint Russian accent, and it’s a reminder that this isn’t really his voice, his body. There’s a human in there, probably screaming for her to save him. She feels a familiar surge of guilt that this isn’t her goal, but ruthlessly pushes it down. The poor bastard is probably already dead. Lissa isn’t.

”I aim to please,” she bites out, jabbing him hard in the side and dancing away. He follows, blocking most of her strikes and hardly seeming to feel those that land. He’s the better fighter, but she has more to fight for.

She lures him to the end of the alley, then darts around him, for a moment triumphant at seeing him cornered before he’s on her, using all his strength to drag her to the ground. They fall hard onto the concrete and grapple for a moment before she gets her elbow up and hits him hard in the face, shoving him at the same time so they roll over and she winds up straddling him, stake positioned over his heart. He tries to push her off, but she holds firm.

“Now we’re going to talk,” she says.

He stares at her uncomprehending for a second, then raises an eyebrow.

“My friend is sick, you’re going to fix her.”

He smiles again, slow and dark. “Ah. You want to make a deal.”


	2. A Council Meeting Post-LS

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lissa struggles to resist the Spirit darkness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For the prompt ‘mind control’ from my Trope Bingo card.

“...and that goes against everything we stand for.” Nathan stops to take a breath and Lissa grits her teeth to hold back a furious retort. “Before now you’ve always shown such respect for our traditions, Your Majesty. If you’ll forgive the liberty.”

Lissa clasps her hands on the table to stop herself from doing something drastic, like throwing her pen at his stupid, smug face. “No liberty, Lord Ivashkov. As I’ve said before, no one will be punished for honesty in these meetings.”

He takes this as permission to continue his disgusting, prejudicial, cowardly, infuriating rant against her newest proposed law. Worse, she can see others around the table agree with him. Worse still, those that don’t agree are starting to look defeated, like they feel as tired as she does and are going to give up just to get him to stop talking. It makes her want to scream.

It makes her want to rise up in her seat and _command_ them to do the right thing.

She closes her eyes briefly, breathing deeply. It happens like this sometimes, an itch in the back of her mind reminding her of her own power. Is it wrong to force people to do something if it’s for the greater good? Having dhampir input on the council sessions is something she’s been working towards for so long, and she’s already been forced to compromise so much. Under the new law they still wouldn’t be allowed to vote, but Nathan doesn’t even want them to be able to speak. It wouldn’t even take much. A note in her voice as she asks Nathan to reconsider...

Someone moves suddenly in the corner of her eye and she looks round to see Rose trading places with the guardian standing across from her, so she’s in Lissa’s line of sight. To anyone else it would be overlooked as guardian business, but Lissa recognises that sympathetic look in her best friend’s face. Rose nods subtlety at her, smiling grimly. _We’re in this together._ Lissa releases a long breath, the pull of spirit lessening.


End file.
